Comment by Professor Shelley Kinash, Executive Principal, Student Experience.

UNE recognises that overall, postgraduate students have different wants, needs and experiences than do undergraduate students. Within these general categories of postgraduate and undergraduate, we also recognise that it is dangerous to essentialise; within these cohort groups, people are immensely diverse. These general groups, however, allow universities to organise and prioritise student experience services and supports.

One of the prior scholarship endeavours which informs my work as Executive Principal Student Experience is co-leadership of a national research/practice grant project about postgraduate student experience. The final report, Engaging postgraduate students and supporting higher education to enhance the 21^st century student experience was published in 2016. Our most recent publication from this endeavour is a published journal paper (2021), Australian postgraduate student experiences and anticipated employability: A national study from the students’ perspective. Notably, my co-leader and I supported a current postgraduate student to be the contributing lead author of this research.

The research was conducted through feedback breakfasts, focus groups and interviews with 319 postgraduate student participants from 26 universities.

Emergent themes highlight widespread lack of confidence in university-mediated student experiences, particularly in the context of employability, and pessimism regarding career outcomes. Students expressed a view that higher education providers need to direct further attention and relevant supports toward postgraduate education.

Four overall recommendations came out of the research. These recommendations shape our UNE priorities.

It is recommended that universities:

1. design integrated opportunities for robust scholarly interaction between postgraduate students, such as participants experienced in the feedback breakfasts. Applying the theory of flourishing and eudemonia, these experiences as students, would postgraduates’ positioning as leaders and collaborators upon graduation.
2. design and enact intentional employability strategies, in the context of postgraduate education. In the experience of the participating students, grafting postgraduates onto undergraduate strategies is ineffective.
3. take a personalised approach to postgraduate employability, giving students access to success coaches who can give them targeted and contextualised advice along their journey towards their graduate careers.
4. recognise postgraduates as their emerging workforce through mentoring, championing and creating opportunities to transition into early career academics.